Poll: Dubbed or Subbed?

[SckizoBoy]

The only anime I've watched subbed and enjoyed was the one about a college anime club. Anybody remember what that was called?

Genshiken, perchance?

 

[leedwashere]

For things that are animated, dubbing suits me just fine. In most cases the mouth movements are too ambiguous to be one set of words over another. But I've seen dubbing of live-action stuff sometimes, and it just drives me crazy to see someone's mouth move and hear something totally different from what they're saying, and likely in a completely different voice.

So it greatly depends

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

I prefer a dub. I really don't find English voices that bad. Plus, I find that, while I'm reading subtitles, I miss a little bit of what's going on in the video. Usually, it's only some details, but I like to know EXACTLY what's going on.

Besides, if I wanted to spend my nights reading something, I'd probably go get a book.

 

[Sabinfrost]

Where is the option for whichever one is better.

I've seen terrible subs but I've also seen terrible dubs.

I dislike all dubbing of real actors, if an actor is speaking Japanese he shouldn't be dubbed to speak English. Unless you are catering to a niche dyslexic audience that enjoy foreign films, this isn't acceptable to me.

In the case of anime, it doesn't matter providing it is done well.

 

[Vern5]

The only anime I've watched subbed and enjoyed was the one about a college anime club. Anybody remember what that was called?

Genshiken, perchance?

Yes! That's it exactly. Watching that anime subbed made sense to me because it was a portrayal of a Japanese club in Japan. It was like watching a "day-in-the-life" story but animated.

 

[Bender Rodriguez]

Deffo subbed, i love authentic.

 

[tzimize]

99% of the time, subbed.

One reason is that I cant STAND looking at the lips of characters and it doesnt match the voices (in real movies, not drawn). Another is that I feel it adds a fat layer of realism. I think I'd faint if I had to watch Crouching tiger, hidden dragon in english. Or norwegian for that matter EEEEEEWWWWWWW!

To be fair, live action movies being dubbed is pretty rare. Though I did hear the Germans apparently dubbed star wars back in the day.

I'm not quite sure if the English/American would dub live action movies...
I imagine they might though, since it seems English-speaking people just have this inherent fear of subtitles.

I don't really think anyone who doesn't have English as their native language actually prefer dubs.

Well. Afaik in Italy and Germany there is a LOT of dubs. Actually I think just about everything is dubbed. Which is one of the reasons many italians at least are pretty bad at english. NOT ALL! But quite a few.

 

[Jonluw]

99% of the time, subbed.

One reason is that I cant STAND looking at the lips of characters and it doesnt match the voices (in real movies, not drawn). Another is that I feel it adds a fat layer of realism. I think I'd faint if I had to watch Crouching tiger, hidden dragon in english. Or norwegian for that matter EEEEEEWWWWWWW!

To be fair, live action movies being dubbed is pretty rare. Though I did hear the Germans apparently dubbed star wars back in the day.

I'm not quite sure if the English/American would dub live action movies...
I imagine they might though, since it seems English-speaking people just have this inherent fear of subtitles.

I don't really think anyone who doesn't have English as their native language actually prefer dubs.

Well. Afaik in Italy and Germany there is a LOT of dubs. Actually I think just about everything is dubbed. Which is one of the reasons many italians at least are pretty bad at english. NOT ALL! But quite a few.

I meant English dubs... Should probably have specified that.

 

[Trivea]

I generally watch the subbed version simply because English voice actors in animes tend to be so BAD.

See: Bleach. Only decent voice: Kenpachi. Gin makes me cry. So does Hitsugaya. Ganju wasn't even worth mentioning.

 

[Agayek]

I vastly prefer the subbed version in most cases. Entirely because the dubs almost always suck. If they do the dub right, though, I prefer that. There are a few that do a good job with the dubs. The ones I remember off the top of my head are: Trigun, Rurouni Kenshin and maybe Outlaw Star (been about 6 years since I last watched it in English).

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

Dubbed. Subs are only preferable when the voice actors suck. Too much of the meaning is lost when all you have to go on is text.

 

[Cpu46]

Depends, if the english speaking voice actors are decent at portraying their characters (ex: Gurren Lagann, Soul Eater) then I will choose the Dub. If they are just reading off of a script and have no emotion and just sound flat then I will watch it subbed.

 

[klaynexas3]

it really does depend. if there is say an english dub that's for, say, adult swim. or its on an uncut dvd of the anime, i might go for dubbed, cause not a lot is left out. but it feels better to watch with subs for me for some reason. except for dragonball, cause goku's voice annoys me. but it just seems right hearing the japanese and reading what they're saying

 

[pokepuke]

writing

Wait, what? Why is there writing? Do you mean the simple act of putting language down onto paper or other medium?

The reason I hated dubs is because of the piss-poor translations and re-writes of what the characters were saying, sometimes done just to fit within the time-span of the character's lips moving. Because of all the changes being made, I always assume that someone speaking off-camera really wasn't speaking in the first place. plus, sometimes the dubs are just poorly done without any reason. I remember seeing an episode of Inuyasha, and when I enabled english audio alongside what I think was a fan-translated sub, the words being spoken were unnecessarily confusing in the audio. I don't know if it was to match the time for the lips moving, but it was simply retarded.

One thing that infuriates me is when the subs are actually just text form of the dubbing, meaning not the original in direct translated form. Then I have to go online and find a fan translation or whatever, just anything that is more accurate and won't bother me every time the Japanese words spoken clearly do not match anything in the text.

 

[BlueMage]

Well, I used to be firmly against dubbed movies and anime, and insisted they were far better with original language + subtitles. But I recently re-watched Gantz and Elfen Lied with both the english language track and english subtitles on and my god, the english language versions kicks the shit out of the japanese + subs versions! The english acting and writing make the subtitled versions look like piles of poorly translated garbage.

So, which do you prefer, dubbed or subbed, and have you seen any other examples where the english language version is superior to the subtitled version?

Ah, glad to see someone else realise that the English VAs have this little thing called Quality Control and a post-animation-touchup team that actually gives a shit about synchronising vocals to mouth movements.

 

[Paragon Fury]

Dubbed.

So many animes are improved by their English VAs its not funny.

Evangelion

Sekirei

Witchblade

Bleach

Ghost in the Shell: SAC

Gundam (depending on the series)

Witch Hunter Robin

etc.

 

[CrashBang]

Quite often English dubs can be really badly translated or have poor voice actors but I just don't like reading subtitles, it distracts from the action on screen (my best example: Akira. Terrible voice acting but must watch very closely!) so yeah, I prefer dub

 

[Ice Car]

I always watch English Subbed, not Dubbed.

 

[Mace Tulio]

I've always preferred subtitles. I've seen too much of 4kids and the likes butchering the story in the dubs. Subs feels like a purer experience.

 

[Michelle Weiss]

Well, I used to be firmly against dubbed movies and anime, and insisted they were far better with original language + subtitles. But I recently re-watched Gantz and Elfen Lied with both the english language track and english subtitles on and my god, the english language versions kicks the shit out of the japanese + subs versions! The english acting and writing make the subtitled versions look like piles of poorly translated garbage.

So, which do you prefer, dubbed or subbed, and have you seen any other examples where the english language version is superior to the subtitled version?

any funimation dubbing is awesome (VIC MIGNOGNA!!!) but any other dubbing isn't always great

Spoiler

vampire knight even though vic is in it all other voice acting sucked

as for me i've been on a binge of straight from japan anime